Report on the Northern States Mission and Spreading the Word

My brethren and sisters, I am very grateful for the opportunity of attending this conference, and partaking with you of the Spirit of the Lord that has been poured out upon the Latter-day Saints assembled. It has been my earnest prayer, and I feel it has been yours, that we may practice in our lives the good instructions we have received, and make them part of our conduct; that our thoughts may be changed, if they have gone astray in any particular; that our words may be guided by inspiration, and our actions in life be in harmony with the Spirit of God, the spirit of the Gospel that has been restored in this day. Some man has said that "We sow in life a thought and for that thought we reap a word, and sowing a word, we reap an action, our actions make habits, our habits make our life and when this life is sown destiny or eternal life is our reward." In other words, our destiny in the world to come will depend upon the thoughts, words, actions, and habits that permeate our lives while we sojourn upon this earth. It is my earnest desire that my thoughts will be guided, that my actions resulting therefrom, and my words, shall aid in the establishing of righteousness, and in sustaining and upholding the Priesthood of God, which has been placed on the earth. I have learned that we cannot harbor feelings against those who preside over us in any position, from a block teacher to the highest in authority, without the risk of expressing some of these thoughts; and if we give utterance to evil sentiments that are in our hearts, our actions are likely to be correspondingly shaped, and we will reap a harvest of sin in this life, and sorrow in the life to come. Men magnifying positions in the Priesthood are honored of God, and as long as God honors them, you and I, if we desire the happiness for which we pray, must carefully guard our thoughts, words and actions. ¶

I have had great joy in being a messenger of life and salvation to the children of men, and I have often thought, said and prayed that God would grant unto me the privilege of continuing in that good work throughout all my days on the earth. In my childhood I prayed many times for education, for lands, for riches, and other gifts of this earth; but, after thinking it all over, the last prayer in my soul is that my Father, above all the blessings of earth, would grant me the privilege of being a witness of the Gospel to the honest in heart. I have shaped my affairs twice to go away and study in the colleges of the land, but each time when I was ready to go a call has come from the authorities of God for me to go and preach the Gospel, and I have willingly gone, and acknowledged that God's overruling power has guided my life in a way that will bring the greatest happiness, and I have striven to do that to which God has called me. ¶

It has given me happiness to have the privilege of laboring in the Northern States with the many that have been called there to preach and search out the honest in heart. I can say for those who labor there, that there are no better men on the earth than the young missionaries who have come to the Northern States, and there are none laboring any harder to advance the cause of truth, none praying more earnestly that God will give them His Spirit, that they may have power over the hearts of the honest, in righteousness ; and that they may be led to those who are prepared to receive the Gospel. Most of the Elders who labor in the Northern States mission are boys only, but under the Spirit of God they have become powerful in bearing testimony of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and fearless in their declaration that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, sent to establish righteousness in the earth. They tell the people that this Gospel will not be taken from the earth ; that God has been with His servants from the time of the re-establishment and organization of His Church to the present day ; that the proclamation of the truth of the Gospel plan of salvation will continue in the earth, and that the people who have received the truth and proven faithful have had their souls filled with the deepest happiness and strong assurance of eternal life. During the past two years we were very much impressed concerning the distribution of the Book of Mormon Scripture in the earth, feeling that God requires us in this age and generation to disseminate this book as another witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible has been pretty well received among the Christian world as the word of God ; and upon the Latter-day Saints, from the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith until now, has been laid the responsibility of establishing the Book of Mormon also as the word of the Lord. We have felt that responsibility very keenly, and have endeavored with all the means that God has given us to put this work in the hands of the people, trusting that the Spirit of the Lord may move upon them, and that they will read and learn wisdom through this New Witness, which is as potent as the Bible in declaring the word of God in the earth. Through the Prophet Joseph Smith this record was given. It was translated by the gift and power of God, and as he translated it he acquired wisdom, and learned that this book contained the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel. He ascertained that it has in it a promise that all who would read it with a prayerful heart should know of its truthfulness. ¶

Last year the Latter-day Saints missions in the United States combined and published in the city of Chicago, 10,000 copies of that work; the Northern States mission taking something over 3,000. This year, early in the spring, we began to urge the Elders to sell and distribute the Book of Mormon as much as possible, telling them that the first Elders of the Church were sent abroad with that Book, and no other except the Bible. There was no tracts written at that time, and the Voice of Warning was not yet published, so the first Elders of the Church were sent abroad with this new witness for God. It contained the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel, and in many of the homes where it was read, the fruits of the Gospel followed, and hundreds were enabled to bear testimony to the fact that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and that the Book of Mormon was the word of God, the history of God's dealings with the people who lived upon this continent. The Elders in the Northern States mission commenced the active campaign of selling the Book of Mormon in April last, and increased their energy in this direction until in the month of June, they sold 1,232 copies, and at the end of that month we found ourselves without a Book of Mormon in the office. Another edition of 10,000 was published in August, and since then we have sold about 2,000. ¶

I bear testimony that more of the Spirit of God has been enjoyed by the Elders who have striven to distribute that book than they have experienced in the distributing of any other literature that has been put into their hands. More people have inquired at our office concerning the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith than at any other period during the three and a half years we have had the privilege of laboring in that mission. We have found, too, that while selling large quantities of the Book of Mormon at 50 cents a copy, we have also increased our distribution of Cowley's Talks, the Voice of Warning, and the Durrant pamphlet, all of which are disposed of at ten cents per copy. During this time baptisms have not decreased, neither the tithings of the people, nor have we diminished in any other mission work that has been carried on heretofore in that part of the earth. The Spirit of the Lord has increased in the hearts of the Elders and the people, and they have received additional testimony concerning the truth of the Book of Mormon and the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Several Elders have stated that this book sells itself, that all they have to do is to get the people to read it. If on the street, or in a store, or an office, or in the home, they can get people to read a few passages, the Spirit of the Lord accompanies the reading, and in almost every instance where people read it they purchased a copy. ¶

I believe President Brigham Young said that no man had ever heard the name of the Prophet Joseph Smith, but what the Spirit of the Lord whispered to him, that he was a servant of God, and that no man ever heard the name of the Book of Mormon but what he was impressed that it was of the Lord. Evidences of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon are being discovered all the time, which lead the people of the world to inquire concerning it. In time it will be found in thousands of libraries, and prove a mighty witness for the Lord Jesus. We feel that we have been very successful, and that God has blessed our efforts. ¶

We are privileged in the city of Chicago to have a large number of students who are members of the Church, and I am proud of every one of them. They are a strong support; they teach in our Sunday school, help administer the Sacrament, and do much of the preaching. They are willing to help us on every hand to spread the Gospel, and hundreds of their fellow students have heard their testimony, because our students are not ashamed of God nor the revealed truth. They are entitled to praise from the Latter-day Saints for their support to the missionaries in that part of the earth. ¶

Two of our Elders, two years ago this winter, were turned out of the settlement known as Zion City, forty miles -north of Chicago, a place founded by John Alexander Dowie. When they were thus banished, we told the Elders to be of good cheer, for the time would come when we would have the privilege of preaching the Gospel to them. The people there believe in the doctrines of faith, repentance, baptism, and in many cases the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. They acknowledge the truth of the principles of tithing, offerings, fasting and the building of temples ; in fact almost all the principles that are taught by the Latter-day Saints have been incorporated in the doctrines advocated by John Alexander Dowie. One exception is the principle of authority, or the restoration of the Priesthood of the Son of God. This summer that community has practically gone to pieces, and upon the streets of their city, everywhere, for the past two or three weeks, our Elders have been distributing tracts and preaching the Gospel, declaring the plan of life and salvation. We have found among that people a goodly number who have heard the Gospel from the Elders in years gone by, but who had not the courage to accept it because of persecution, but when the Dowie people came along preaching similar doctrines they accepted his counterfeit. Now they have had their lands and property taken from them, and in their poverty some are willing to receive the truth that came to them at first. One lady told me that fifteen years ago she heard the Elders in Germany, but she then lacked the courage to become a member of the Church. Three or four years ago the Dowieites came along preaching the same principles, and she gladly received them. She then moved to Zion City, and turned over her property to the corporation, and today she is a widow without anything in the world, but sad experience. She is glad to have the Mormon Elders come to her door and preach the Gospel to her again — the truth that she once turned her back upon. ¶

We recently held another conference in Nauvoo, the city the memory of which is dear to the heart of every Latter-dav Saint. The people there again gave us a warm welcome, displaying as much kindness as if they were Latter-day Saints. They are glad to open their houses to us, and bid us God-speed. We thank the Lord that He has moved upon that people, so that the Elders have been enabled to peacefully visit that country. The people sing our songs, and seem glad to have us come among them and teach them the truth. They believe we have the true Gospel, and say we have an influence that has never been experienced in their lives before. They give us the freedom of their city, and bid all the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ welcome. Their children attend our Sunday school, sing our songs, and receive instruction just as if they were Latter-day Saint children. We are pleased with the success that has attended the labor that has been done in Hancock county, especially in Nauvoo, where we have a flourishing Sunday school. We have a congregation of honest people there who willingly come and listen to the Elders, and help us pay the rent, although they have not yet applied for baptism. ¶

I am happy to have the privilege of attending this conference. I am thankful to have received, through the Spirit of God, an understanding of the instructions given by our brethren. I pray God that we may have His assistance to enable us to live by all the good counsel we have heard. I desire this for myself, and pray that these things may be instilled into my life, and that I may have the power to similarly inspire the young men I have the honor to labor among, that when they come home they may, in their thoughts, words and actions prove true to God, true to His people, true to His servants. I pray that not one of us will ever turn away from the truth, and that we may work righteousness in the earth throughout all our days, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶