Report on the Western States Mission

In the Assembly Hall at 2 p. m. Elder Hyrum M, Smith presiding. ¶

The singing was efficiently rendered by the Temple choir. Before the close of the services, the presiding officer announced that the music of all the hymns that were sung had been composed, or harmonized, by the conductor, Prof. Charles J. Thomas. ¶

The choir sang the hymn : ¶

Jesus, mighty King in Zion, Thou alone our guide shalt be; Thy commission we rely on, We will follow none but Thee. ¶

Prayer was offered by Elder Henry Beal. ¶

The choir sang the hymn : ¶

Go, ye messengers of glory ; Run, ye legates of the skies ; Go and tell the pleasing story, That a glorious angel flies, Great and mighty, With a message from the skies. ¶

ELDER JOSEPH A. M'RAE. ¶

(President of Western States Mission.) My brethren and sisters, there have been many thoughts pass through my mind during the time that this conference has been in session, and I am truly thankful to my Father in heaven that I have had the opportunity of attending the meetings which have been held. I have rejoiced in the testimonies that have been borne by my brethren, and I rejoiced in the declaration that was read the first day of the conference by Brother Whitney, the declaration by the President and his counselors, that was accepted by the body of the Church in conference assembled. When that document was being read I could not help but reflect on the first hymn in the book : ¶

The morning breaks, the shadows flee ; Lo ! Zion's standard is unfurled ! The dawning of a brighter day Majestic rises on the world. ¶

The clouds of error disappear Before the rays of truth divine ; The glory, bursting from afar, Wide o'er the nations soon will shine. ¶

The Gentile fullness now comes in, And Israel's blessings are at hand : ¶

Lo ! Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin, Shall in their promised Canaan stand. ¶

Jehovah speaks ! let earth give ear, And Gentile nations turn and live; His mighty arm is making bare, His cov'nant people to receive. ¶

Angels from heaven and truth from earth Have met and both have record borne ; Thus Zion's light is bursting forth, To cheer her children's glad return. ¶

It seemed to me that a dawning of another day had come upon us, and that we are beginning a new era in the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I wonder in my mind what influenced each of you to come to conference. I know why I came. It was to become acquainted and to be associated with you, to partake of the Spirit, that I might return again to the mission field over which I have been called to preside, and tell the people there, the elders, the Saints and those who are not members of the Church, what a glorious time we have had. ¶

In sitting here this afternoon, looking over this congregation, seeing throngs of people that are passing to and fro on the outside, and realizing that many thousands are assembled in the tabernacle to hear the word of God, I could not help but say within myself, This people is of necessity a social community. They are not hermits, they are not a law unto themselves, but we each depend upon our brothers and sisters to a degree for strength to bear that portion of the kingdom that has been committed to our care. I rejoice in the Gospel of Christ, and in the testimony the Lord has blessed me with. I rejoice in the opportunity I have had of laboring in the mission field for a few years, presiding over some of your sons and daughters, directing their footsteps and teaching them the Gospel, telling them how to go among the people and do the work which they are appointed to accomplish. In viewing the work they have done I rejoice exceedingly. They are a noble band of brethren and sisters, doing their duty, keeping the commandments of the Lord, and striving every day of their lives to preach the Gospel unto those who do not know it. The people in our field are inquiring for the Gospel, asking for it, and listening to the testimony of the elders ; but we do not have enough elders and sisters to preach the Gospel in the districts where we have been called. We have, practically, three states in our mission that have no elders preaching in them. One has only two elders covering the entire state. Of course they cannot cover it as a whole, we have to confine them to a small district, which keeps them busy. Two other states have not had elders in them for three or four years, because we can not spare them. We have letters now, in our desk in Denver, asking for elders to come and preach the Gospel to the people, invitations that we cannot comply with. I feel that the Gospel is spreading abroad in the land. I often ask the Elders in the mission field, Are we keeping pace with the rapid progress that the Gospel is making? Are we keeping up with this great movement that has been established by our Father in heaven? Are we keeping the commandments of the Lord, so that we can go back into the presence of our Father in heaven with those who shall be received in His kingdom? When I see the rapid strides that are being made in the mission field, and the progress of the people, I wonder if our friends and relatives at home, who are offering up prayers and petitions for our welfare, realize what is being accomplished today by the missionaries in the field. We have a corps of missionaries striving to the utmost of their ability to preach the Gospel ; we have no place for drones in our hive, we have all resolved to be workers in a great cause. I could not help but realize, as I said before, that our associations together here are accomplishing good. My association with the mission presidents, visiting their headquarters, has done much for me, I have blessings in my heart for President Ellsworth, who presides over the Northern States mission. I say God bless him; he has been an inspiration in the things that I have learned by visiting his mission. When he asked me to take 1,500 copies of the Book of Mormon, more than two years ago, I thought it was more than we could afford to carry. So I solicited President Robinson to take some off our hands, and I sent him 200. We kept the remainder on our shelves, and did not send them out to the missionaries. A few months ago an inspiration came to me, and I decided to send each elder in the mission six copies of the Book of Mormon, and to the conference presidents I sent twelve each. We sent 450 Books of Mormon out in one week. Some of the elders said, 'What do you want me to do with these?" I said, Put them in your grip, do anything you please, but I am going to send another half dozen in a very short time, and follow that up. Some of the elders were at first timid and backward in their efforts to place the Book of Mormon before the people, and we realized that to get them to work we must throw responsibility upon them. In the 23 months preceding the first day of last December, we sold in the mission field 700 copies of the Book of Mormon. In the four months since then we have sold 800. Not only that, but there were hundreds more of our Church books distributed among the people. The elders also had an opportunity of getting in the homes of the people and explaining the principles of the Gospel unto them. I wonder many times, if we, as a people, understand the Book of Mormon, do we comprehend what it is ? do we know why it was revealed in this dispensation? Evidently there was a wise purpose in it, for God thought it of sufficient importance to reveal it before the Church was established. Read the title page to that book, and observe what obligations we are under to distribute it among the people. I have sent letters to the elders telling them we have placed the mark on disposal of the Book of Mormon in our mission field during the present year at 5,000 copies. President Ellsworth, I expect, will tell you a bigger story than that, but he has nearly three times the number of missionaries that we have. I feel thankful for the interest that has been taken in this great work. You may think that your sons and daughters are made book agents in distributing this book, but it is not so. We have elders in the mission field today who have been book agents before they went there, but while pursuing former tactics, they failed in getting the people to purchase the Book of Mormon, so they had to change their plan. The plan that they have adopted now is to hand the individual a Book of Mormon and ask him to read. It makes no difference what portion he reads, any of it is good. As he reads it, the Elder stands there and silently prays that our Father in heaven will touch the heart of that individual and cause him to want the book. Invariably it has been sold under such conditions. They are not ordinary book agents, but they are filled with the power of the Lord. We believe the spirit of that book has permeated the hearts of the people. One of the elders, the other day, going into a dry goods store, took a book out of his pocket. He had hardly taken it out when a gentleman, a stranger, saw it, and held out his hand and said, "I have been looking for the Book of Mormon for months, how much is it?" Another instance I recall, of my own experience recently in the city of Denver. I went into a business house and took a book out of my pocket and handed it to the proprietor and said: "Did you ever see that book before?" He said. "No; what are you going to do with it?" I said, "I am going to let you have it to read if you want it." He said, "All right, what is the price?" He wanted the book, and he took it. And so the people in our mission have become aware of the fact that Mormonism has something to give them, and they are inquiring after it, they are desiring to learn the principles of the Gospel. These things that I am telling you about are developing the elders. The elder that I mentioned who took the book into the dry goods store was a timid, backward young man. He said, "I can't give a book away, I can't loan it to the people," and the president of the conference had been doing everything to get him filled with the spirit of the work, and he took the young man with him that morning, and decided on that peculiar action which resulted as I stated. We do not feel like book agents, but feel that we are going forth bearing the message that God has given to this generation. I have often said to the elders who are laboring in our mission, The Book of Mormon has been written as a message to this generation, and if we withhold that message from them, we will be held responsible to God, as we would be held responsible before the courts of the land by withholding any letter we may have received for delivery. ¶

I feel well in the Gospel. I feel to press on and do all that I can for the furtherance of this great cause. I love my brethren and sisters, and the principles of the Gospel, and I hope that I shall ever have a firm testimony, and not be afraid to stand forth and bear it wherever the Lord shall see fit to send me. May He bless us and help us to do right and keep His commandments, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶