Faith and Diligent Labor in the Northern States Mission

My brethren and sisters, I desire that you should offer in my behalf a solemn prayer, that the man-fearing spirit that sometimes comes upon the Elders, when appearing before the Saints, may be taken from me a short time, while I report the condition of the mission known as the Northern States. This man-fearing spirit does not bother the Elders as much before an audience in the world as it does before an audience of Latter-day Saints. Here we are conscious that the majority of the audience, if not all, understand the principles of the Gospel as well as we; but when appearing before the world, we know that we have something new to tell, we know that we have been sent with the message of life and salvation to declare unto them, and God has blessed us and sent us forth, and we feel if we are humble that we can tell the people something. If the Latter-day Saints were not possessed of the Spirit of the Lord, if they did not come seeking the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they would go from the meetings dissatisfied with that which had been spoken in their hearing. The Latter-day Saints, when they come together, and listen to the principle of faith, or repentance, or baptism, or the Holy Ghost, or any one of the simple principles of the Gospel declared by the Elders, if in possession of the Spirit of God, that spirit manifests unto them that which is satisfying to the soul. I have heard testimonies concerning revelations of God given unto different people in the audience while some humble Elder was speaking concerning the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And that one thing gives me hope in attending meetings, no matter who the speaker is, if my heart is right, God will bless me according to my desires, and I go away built up in faith and strengthened in the testimony of Jesus. I feel in listening to sermons that have been delivered in this conference and the reports of the different missions, that we have heard no new nor startling doctrines, but because of the Spirit that has been with us, many thousands of hearts, I know, will go from this conference feeling that it is good to have assembled together as a body of Latter-day Saints. It is good to have had the privilege of listening to the servants of the Lord, and opening' our hearts and minds to the revelations that God bestows upon the earnest seeker. I rejoice to have the privilege, after 16 months, of again assembling with the Saints, and under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, feast upon the good things of our Father's kingdom. ¶

Two years ago, nearly, when I was called to go upon a mission, friends reminded me that I had only been home a short time, and that there were other men who were financially better qualified to go than I was. I stated, when Apostle Cowley asked me if I would go upon a mission, that I had been home only a little over four years. He told me he didn't care if I had been home only four weeks, "it is the will of the Lord that you go upon a mission." I was unknowingly trying to prevent the fulfilment of a prophecy that was made that I would go upon a mission again within five years from the time I returned from my first mission. Now I am thankful to my Father in heaven I decided that I would go. The way was opened up whereby I have had the glorious privilege of being again associated with the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are a grand and noble body of men laboring in the Northern states. ¶

We have in that mission at the present time a few less than 100 Elders, and if those who have been there two years, or near that time, were released we should have less than 75. The mission is so good that we are at least 50 or 75 short of the number that we could use conveniently. When we landed in the mission, I found President Asahel H. Woodruff was devoted to labor, labor, labor. Once while taking lessons in penmanship, my teacher told me he would give me three rules that would make me a good penman if I followed them. Those three rules were: Practice intelligent practice, and intelligent earnest practice. The life of our president, who has been in the Northern States mission for the last two years and a half, has been one of labor, earnest labor, earnest intelligent, diligent labor. He has sought, night and day, to instil that into the hearts of every one of the Elders there, for he realized, and often said to them, that if they would labor earnestly and diligently for the Lord their hearts would be opened and their minds quickened with the revelations of our Father, and they would be able to speak unto the people. When he has taught the young Elder to labor, and to love the souls of men, they have begun to develop and seek diligently to find somebody to preach the Gospel to. This summer, many of our young men have not been satisfied to go upon the streets in company with three or four others, but were ready to avail themselves of every opportunity to preach the Gospel on street corners by themselves; and being alone, in humility have gone before the people and preached night after night. We have several that I could mention in particular who have, this summer, gone as often as 25 times alone upon the streets of Chicago, and proclaimed the Gospel. Last year, with the exception of three or four instances, we had no success upon the streets in the city of Chicago. Thousands of the people received our tracts, and' went on without stopping to hear us. This year, we selected three corners, and appointed two Elders for each to hold meeting there every night that weather permitted. I am pleased to report that, at two of the corners selected, we have a standing congregation of from 40 to 100 people every night, when the weather is favorable. If we fail to come, the people are disappointed. Now the weather is beginning to get cold, we have as many at 25 people who attend our hall meetings, as a result of meetings held on one corner selected early in the spring. ¶

I rejoice in the work of the Lord, and I rejoice in the testimonies that He has given to the Elders in the Northern states. Most of us are young, and we desire to do the will of the Lord, for we have no other purpose in view while abiding in those cold and barren states, where there are but few of the honest in heart, considering the many millions of people ¶

I desire to tell one circumstance, my brethren and sisters, that shows there is still faith in the earth. We were favored with a visit, about three weeks ago from Apostle George A. Smith And President Asahel H. Woodruff, and, on the Sabbath day they were there a little girl, who had heard of the power of God that was in the Church, but had never seen an Elder, asked her mother if she could come to meeting and be blessed by the Elders, believing that she would be healed. The little girl was 11 years of age, and when she was only about 4 years of age, her father, who was a drunkard, came home and threw her across the room. The result was that one leg was disabled, and for six years she had worn a steel frame around her body, never taking it off, and it had formed hard sores upon her. She came to the meeting and was administered unto according to her request. During the night she heard a voice telling her to take off that frame, and she did so. She then went to her mother's room and said that the Lord had healed her. One of her legs has increased two or three inches in length; it is still a little shorter than the other now, but God healed her through the power of faith. We could tell you many other things the Lord has done for the honest in heart. He has blessed the Elders with the spirit of humility. He has blessed them also with a testimony of the Gospel, and with a love for the souls of their fellow men. ¶

There is a sect in the Northern States known as the Dowieites, and they are teaching faith in God, and repentance, very vigorously; they are also teaching baptism for the remission of sins. They are practising "the word of wisdom;" and in their city of 10,000 people there is not a place where you can buy liquor, nor tobacco, nor a piece of swine flesh. A number of these people, within the last month or two, have testified in our meetings, and applied for baptism, who were brought to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ through Dowie's preaching. If they have been brought to believe on the name of Jesus Christ through this man, he has done that much good. I believe it is a glorious thing to be born in a Christian country, and be taught to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, no matter what denomination one may belong to, it is that much in favor of leading us to the true church of Christ. We are watching that people, and think it probable that in the course of a few years the honest in heart among them will accept the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. ¶

I pray that God will bless us all, that we may open our hearts and desire to know the will of God; that we may gain from the many good things said here that which shall comfort our souls, that we may go away built up in faith, and with love toward our fellow men throughout all the earth. We ought to teach our young men, all of them, to open their hearts, for the young man who cannot pray to his Father in heaven in earnest will never convert a soul in the world. He must love the souls of men, he must open his heart in prayer, in song, and in earnest speech before he can impress the people that he believes what he is saying. ¶

May God help us all to be true to the covenants we have made to uphold and sustain the laws of God upon the earth, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶