Report on the Southern States Mission

(President of Southern States Mission.) I pray you, my brethren and sisters, that I may have the benefit of your faith and prayers while I speak unto you. The sole desire of my heart is to say those things that it would please the Lord to have me tell you. ¶

As I listened to the instructions of the servants of God, yesterday and throughout this conference, I felt in my soul that it was a blessed privilege to enjoy the presence and counsels of the general authorities of the Church. As we have been told, we have been reproved for things we were guilty of; yet it is said that the rebuke of a friend is just, "but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." One of the ancient prophets, in lamenting the downfall of Israel, stated as one of the reasons for the decline of his glory and the blessings of the Lord being taken from him was that he could not receive correction. The instructions that have been imparted unto us this day will make for righteousness in our lives ; and I for one — and I know that we all feel likewise — feel to accept these instructions in the spirit in which they were given, and demonstrate unto the Lord that we love His servants and show our appreciation of their counsels by living up to the principles of the Gospel, which they teach us from time to time. ¶

We bring you cheering news from the mission field. Your sons are bearing aloft the royal standard of the Gospel in a creditable manner. People marvel at the influence which these young men wield, but they forget that a life of unselfishness and love and devotion to dutv not only strengthens us with our people, but magnifies us in the eyes of those who are not of our faith, and in building up each other, we are only building up ourselves. One of the reasons for the strength of this Gospel, and for the influence which your sons wield in the mission field is this : they speak under the power of the Holy Ghost, and the power of the Holy Ghost carries their words, their instructions unto the hearts of the children of men. One of the reasons for the decay of religious thought in the world today is that men are teaching solely by the learning of men ; they are not relying upon the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. The prophet has said : "To be learned is good, if you obey the counsels of God ;" but, my brethren and sisters, when it comes to a choice between the two, when it comes to that which makes most for righteousness, personal goodness will count more in the battle of life and in the building up of our fellow man, in the development of character, than will mere intellectual knowledge. ¶

The very power of this people lies in the fact that they are obedient to God, and to be obedient is to please Him, and not to debase themselves. I am sure that the Latter-day Saints feel this way today, and that from their hearts they can exclaim with the Apostle Paul, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God unto salvation, unto every one that believeth." Now we discover the reason for the opposition to this system of religion called Mormonism ; it is because it is the power of God unto salvation ; it is because the principles of this Gospel are making headway in the world. The Gospel is making substantial progress in the nations of the earth ; go where you will, the light of the Gospel is spreading, and the principles are not so new and strange to the world as they were three or four decades ago. You talk to men about the principle of revelation ; they are beginning to believe in that principle, and men are no longer scoffing at the Prophet Joseph Smith— that is, men of understanding, men with unbiased minds, men who do not read the history of "Mormonism" with their prejudices, but read it with their eyes ; these men with liberality of thought are beginning to see in the Prophet Joseph Smith a man of God, a prophet of Israel who enunciated and taught these glorious saving principles to all the world for the salvation of mankind. ¶

The Lord has said that some men shall see signs, but not unto salvation. The greatness of this work is apparent to fairminded men, while others are fighting the work, because their minds are prejudiced, and they do not discern its glory, virtue, and power. When Jesus called Lazarus from the grave there were men who marveled at that miracle and believed in Christ; and there were also men who, filled with envy and hate, straightway went unto the Scribes and Pharisees and prejudiced them still more against the Son of God. When the Savior healed the blind man, and restored his sight, he who was blind was summoned before the Jewish tribunal. They tried to make him believe that Jesus was a sinner, that his sight had not been restored by the power of God. This excited marvel and wonder in the mind of the man who had been afflicted, and he said : It is a marvel to me that you men, who are steeped in the knowledge of the Scripture, who are learned according to the laws of your church, it is a marvel to me that you can not see that this was done bv the power of God. So it is with us today; it is a marvel unto us, or to many of us, that men seeing the greatness of this work do not discern its virtue, its beauty, and the only motive it has, which is the uplifting and the benefit of mankind ; because, God being our witness, our hearts are filled with love for the children of men and duty to God, and this creates in us a love for our fellow creatures. ¶

Well, my brethren and sisters, we know in our lives this Gospel has been the power of God unto salvation. When the Lord was born, widen that heavenly song was sung, when that message of good will was given to the earth, "Peace on earth and good will to man," it was met by persecution; it was answered by hate ; it was replied to with murder. What was there in that innocent babe of Bethlehem to excite the envy and hate of the world ? It had not wealth; it had not high earthly station; it was born amid humble surroundings ; but the adversary recognized in that babe the Messiah, the being who had come to earth with the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. The adversary well knew that all the obsolete forms of religion that the Jews had, did not make for righteousness or bring men and women to a knowledge of God. History repeats itself ; the centuries went by; the religious world was in a state of confusion, when the boy prophet Joseph Smith declared to the world that he had seen the Father and the Son. He but delivered to the world a message of peace, yet that message was met with persecution, and with hatred, and with murder. What was there in the boy prophet that should call forth this envy and hate and murder? He was not wealthy; he was not of distinguished parentage, as the world goes ; he did not wear soft clothing; he was born amid humble surroundings, but Satan saw in that boy the messenger of God through whom should be restored to the earth the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. So it is today, that is the reason for the persecution and the hatred that are being visited upon the Latter-day Saints. It is not because we strive for political gratification or for political honors, but we are the people of God, we have the Gospel of the Son of God, and our mission is definite, we have an object in view, and this object makes us strong, even the object of preparing the world for the glorious second coming of the Redeemer. To this our mission we will be true, and though men persecute us we will pursue the even tenor of our ways, and preach the Gospel of love. ¶

You remember reading that when the Grecian nation was in danger of invasion, two statesmen were discussing the best means of repelling the invader, and one of the statesmen could not meet the logic of the other with logic; he grew angry and went to strike his opponent, but the latter said : "Strike if you will,but listen." We say to the world, if you must persecute us, we will accept it in the spirit of Christ. Strike, if you must, but listen — listen to our message, for it is important to you, it is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren and sisters, the schooling we are receiving, the arduous labors we are performing are good for the Latter-day Saints. The poet said : ¶

"This is a scene of combat — not of rest; Man's life is a laborious one at best ; On this side of death, his labors never cease, His joys are joys of conquest — not of peace." ¶

Every Latter-day Saint can preach the Gospel. It is not given to everybody to go out into the mission field, but it is given to us all to pay our tithes and our offerings, that houses may be built to the worship of God, and, as the Lord has said, if we labor all the davs of our lives and bring but one soul unto the knowledge of Christ, how great shall be our joy with that soul in the kingdom of our God. So you, my brethren and sisters, who are not on the "firing line," you can live good true lives at home. By paying your tithes you are assisting in erecting meeting houses in the world as well as in Zion, and in those places of worship men and women will meet and they will listen to the Gospel of the Redeemer. Their souls will be turned unto God, and in the day that we shall be rewarded for the deeds done in the body, you people whose money has been expended in building these houses, you shall have joy with the souls of men who have been saved by reason of your generosity in giving of your means to build up the kingdom of God. ¶

I pray that the light of the Gospel of Christ may spread throughout the earth, as the good old hymn says : ¶

"Thy swift messengers are treading The high courts where princes dwell, And thy glorious light is spreading ; Zion prospers, all is well." ¶

May Zion continue to prosper ; may the Gospel continue to spread, until every son and daughter of God basks in the sunlight of everlasting truth, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶