Ancien président de la mission d'Afrique du Sud

[FR] Former President of the South African Mission ¶

[FR] I trust that I may be sustained this afternoon in this ordeal, for I assure you that it is an ordeal to realize that there are ten thousand eyes gazing at me and perhaps double that number who are listening to my utterances; but I have enjoyed the Spirit of the Lord so often in the mission field under trying conditions that I feel confident I shall enjoy his Spirit while I endeavor to speak to you this afternoon. ¶

One of the last requests made of me, as I was leaving Cape-Town and the South African Mission as a whole, was that I would bring the love of the people of South Africa to you who live in Zion. There are many still living who remember the elders who first went to that land to preach the Évangile of the restoration in 1853. And again, there are many, among whom I had the privilege of laboring, who feel to extend to you their love and gratitude for the elders who returned again in 1903, after forty years absence, to bring the Évangile to that far-off land. In 1853 the South African Mission was limited — the elders bore their testimony to those only who lived in the British possessions. Cape Colony and Natal. When they returned in 1903, the mission had increased more than double. Instead of including only about three or four hundred thousand square miles of territory, it had been increased to over a million square miles, owing to the fact that in 1890 Great Britain decided to take over that large native territory known today as Southern and Northern Rhodesia, which embraces over four hundred thousand square miles, all native territory, and then since the war that of German Southwest Africa. This added territory has made it imperative that the elders who go to that far-off land be sent out two by two to only the large cities within the union. ¶

The great cry of South Africa today is : "Send us missionaries." Since Southern and Northern Rhodesia have been under the control of the British government, thousands of white settlers are going to that country and are establishing beautiful cities, very much after the plan of the cities we have in the west. They need at this time the missionary pioneer, that as the population increases the Évangile knowledge might grow with them ; therefore, the cry in South Africa is from the people themselves: "Send us missionaries.". ¶

You may perhaps know that the missionaries do not go to the colored or native races. The native races have besought the elders that they would go and teach them the Évangile and that they would allow them to translate our tracts into the native language. They have offered to have congregations amounting to the thousands if the elders would only go and speak to them, but that time has not yet arrived. The number of missionaries that the General Authorities have been able to send has precluded us from sending the missionaries even into many of the cities where the white people dwell. There are towns of ten, fifteen and twenty thousand people who have had no elders stationed with them. ¶

It was very pleasing to me, when I returned to South Africa after nearly eleven years, to find people who were pleased to see me again. Nearly twenty-five years ago I had the privilege of hearing the Évangile message for the first time in that land, and I believe was the first convert to the Église through the efforts of the elders who came out in 1903. Some of those who knew me in business, political, and social life, asked the question: "Has Martin gone mad? Is he attending to his business? How and why on earth could he allow himself to be overcome by those Mormon elders?" But when I returned this time and I met some of the same people who are holding high government positions, men of social position, and of the press. They said: "Have you really come back to South Africa? Surely you will never leave us again?" And the press requested me to write and tell them of my experiences here among this wonderful people. They gave me freedom to write all that I desired, and from that time on I can assure you with truthfulness I never again saw in the press during my presidency of the South African Mission an article in adverse criticism of the Église of Jésus-Christ of Saints des Derniers Jours. Prejudice is breaking down. The people as a whole are ready and willing to listen. The elders who come out are men of splendid character as a whole, many of them earnest in their endeavor to preach the Évangile. They are able to take rebuke and slander without retaliation. The only difficulty we have found does not exist with the common people generally but with those who are supposed to be teachers of truth and light. It often seemed very strange to me that men who professed to be teachers of the doctrine of the Lord Jésus-Christ were not able to discern the difference between his teachings and their treatment to the elders; the love, tolerance, patience, and gentleness which he taught, compared with that which they were pleased to give in exchange for his teachings to the elders of this Église. It seemed to me that the pastors were unable to discern the difference between a lamb and a wolf, for charity is often absolutely lacking. Therefore, mes frères et sœurs, I come to you with an appeal — Do not withhold your sons if you can possibly arrange for them to fill missions. The Lord will open the way. He will bless those who go into the mission field. ¶

Let me tell you the experience I had prior to gathering to Zion many years ago. There was a young elder who came out from Idaho, I believe it was Paris or Bloomington. He landed in South Africa in a state of collapse through typhoid fever. He was taken to the hospital, and when he became convalescent the government was about to send him back, owing to the fact that he had only two pounds ten shillings ($12.50) with which to sustain himself in the South African Mission. I had the privilege, as a business man at that time, to go before the government and stand security, giving a guarantee that he should never be a charge to the country ; and the Lord blessed me and gave me confidence in his work, and with the kind cooperation of my little wife, from the day he came out of the hospital until the day he left South Africa, we fed him. I don't say that to receive your praise, but I do say this that I am only a humble man and if God would induce me to sustain a humble elder who came into the world to preach the Évangile, he will do it for your son if occasion requires it. ¶

[FR] I want to make one other expression before I sit down. I want to appeal to you parents to stress particularly the importance of your sons and daughters reading, studying and marking the wondrous blessings which are given to them by the servants of the Lord, particularly their patriarchal blessings. I can say to you with great humbleness and sincerity that many times when I have seen things requiring great care and good judgment in the mission field, I have gone alone and read over the blessing given to me by our beloved president, Anthony W. Ivins, and at times I saw the wondrous guidance of the Spirit of the Lord in harmony with the blessings he pronounced upon my head, as a humble servant of the Lord called to preside over a branch of His kingdom. I often felt very weak, but at times I could feel the presence and hear the very voice of the Lord directing me. And frequently, after I had given instructions to the elders, when the mail reached me from headquarters the very instruction which they were advising me to give had already been given, showing that the Spirit of the Lord permeates his servants and guides and directs them in all their undertakings. ¶

I pray humbly that the Lord will help us to appreciate and value the words which his servants pronounce upon our heads, for I can assure you from very strong testimony that I have felt their power, their influence, and their guidance, in my life. I pray that God will bless you and open your hearts and guide you that you may not think too much of wealth for self, but of the thousands who are out in the world not enjoying what you have today — a knowledge of the glorious truths of the restoration of the Évangile, for which I am grateful. I am humbly grateful that I with four others of my family should be counted worthy to go out into the world to preach this wonderful message. I pray that the Lord will bless us each to feel dissatisfied until we all have done our duty in that respect. ¶

[FR] May God bless you, Amen. ¶