Missionary Progress in the California Mission

For the few moments I stand before you, my brethren and sisters, I desire an interest in your prayers of faith. I rejoice in the testimony of Jesus. I rejoice in the testimonies of my brethren which have been borne this day. It recalls to my mind a conversation I once had with a gentleman, when he said: "All you brethren speak the same words, bear the same testimony, and treat doctrine and principle alike." I told him it was in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: ¶

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! ¶

"Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; .with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." ¶

The Lord has established Zion. The watchmen lift up the voice together; they see eye to eye, and their testimony is one in relation to peace, to salvation, to the fact that God reigns, and that if His people do right they need have no fear of the consequences. ¶

I am glad to report the California mission in good condition. We do not make many converts in that great State of pleasure and of wealth; but those who do come into the Church are of the better classes, and they grow more stable and more consistent in their faith day by day. 'The Saints are growing and developing in faith and in the knowledge of the Gospel. They rejoice in the triumphs of truth. They sorrow at the ignorance of the world and those who shape the shaft of villification and contumely against the Lord's anointed. We have pleasure in the visits of many of the worthy sons and daughters of Zion to that mission. We have pleasure also that some who may have been froward and who have got outside the influence of home love, have had their testimonies rekindled. They have had the opportunity of comparing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with that taught by men, and their bosoms have swelled with pride and joy because of the new and everlasting covenant which God has established with their fathers, to their soul's good and to their reclamation. They bear testimony to these things, and return home renewed in faith, in zeal, and in courage, and with a desire to keep the commandments of God. ¶

We have heard today a little concerning the beginning of this work. We have been told of its wondrous growth in numbers, and in power; that it is known among all nations; that the name of the Prophet Joseph Smith is spoken of throughout the earth for good or ill, according to men's concept of his work and character. Those who have taken cognizance of the advancement in modern thought cannot but note how in seventy-five years the little leaven of the Gospel has influenced and modified the precepts and concepts of men in relation to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many have come to view the fact that faith alone is not sufficient to save; their concept of God and His attributes and powers have been changed; the old bottomless pit hell has been repudiated; a belief in that horrible heresy, the damnation of little children who are not baptized has been relegated to the past; and the concept of a personal God has grown. They believe today more in progression, as taught, though imperfectly, in some of their ideas of evolution. They sense more the capabilities of man, his relationship to Deity, the powers which He possesses, and with which, in the future, he will be able to develop until he may become like his Father in Heaven. Many understand the fact that like begets like, and that within man is an embryotic Deity. We have some such teachings as this from the learned professors of the great schools in our mission. They have learned to be more merciful, and have come to see that the Gospel of Christ reaches out farther to save than was thought seventy-five years ago. They are now preaching the doctrine of a probation after death, a life beyond the veil, wherein mankind may have another opportunity to adjust themselves to the Gospel plan. They are also teaching tithes and offerings. One man there is teaching temple-building. Some believe in apostles, others teach the gathering. So, as I said in the beginning, the little leaven is leavening the whole lump; and although they will not admit it, their concept of God and His work and word has been most wondrously modified by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Many of the scientific truths which he enunciated, and which were elaborated upon by Apostle Pratt, have been accepted and are now being taught in the schools of our land. I noted not long since that Professors Lodge, Curry and Crookes gave voice to what the press called a "stupendous theory" in relation to matter. They declared that spirit was matter, only finer and more subtle; and that atoms could be divided ad infinitum. Orson Pratt, getting his key from the Prophet Joseph Smith, taught the same doctrine and wrote his "Absurdities of Immaterialism" 60 years ago. So that, not only in religious matters, but in scientific as well, the revelations of the Lord have had their influence in the world. Seventy-five years ago physiology and hygiene were not understood and taught, as they are today. Men have arisen one by one and voiced the laws of health as we have them in the Word of Wisdom; and the States have made it incumbent upon the teachers in their various schools to teach to the rising generation the health laws that are embodied in the Word of Wisdom. Not only that, but great corporations, the railroads particularly, have partaken of this spirit, and those who indulge in strong drink or use tobacco find it difficult to get employment with them, and if they do get it, the work is generally unimportant. ¶

I rejoice that the Saints of our mission sustain the Church with their tithes and their offerings, and sustain with their confidence and prayers President Joseph F. Smith and his counselors, and the quorum of Twelve Apostles. I would like to remind you, my brothers' and sisters, of the words of Christ when He told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees. They thought He referred to bread; but afterwards He explained the matter to them, and they saw that He referred to their doctrines and teachings. Now, as our teachings have modified the thought of the world, at least in religious matters, let us see to it that the leaven of the gentiles does not modify or change the testimonies we have that, God has set His hand to gather His elect from the four corners of the earth; that the north has been made to give up, that the south has kept not back, and that the sons and daughters of God have been gathered from the east, from the west, and from afar off, to be taught of His ways and to walk in His paths. When philanthropists and humanitarians arise and declaim against Mother Goose rhymes, such as the one that deals with old Daddy Long-legs, as being improper teachings for our children, what will we say of papers and books that aim their shafts at the anointed of the Lord? ¶

Will we have such books and papers in our homes? Will we have the adversary, like a serpent, enter therein to poison the atmosphere? Can we expect that our children will learn things more healthful morally from such sources than those which are conveyed in the Mother Goose rhymes and jingles? Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees! Keep your covenants before the Lord. Betray not His Holy Priesthood. Be humble and faithful, and await the day when the prophecy of Isaiah shall be fulfilled wherein he says: ¶

"Arise, shine! for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. ¶

"The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." ¶

God grant it. Amen. ¶