Report on the Eastern States Mission

(President of Eastern States Mission.) Those who are in the tabernacle this afternoon, listening to the prophets, seers and revelators of God's people are hearing no greater truth than you have heard from the brethren who have spoken to you here in this building. Those who have spoken have done so by the power of the same Holy Spirit, by the authority of the same priesthood, and they have taught you the truths of heaven. I have listened with a great deal of interest to their remarks, and I sincerely hope that God may help me, as I believe they have been assisted, and that you may give me your faith and prayers during the time that I may occupy in speaking to you, as I may be led by the direction of the Holy Spirit. ¶

Apostle Richards told you, in introducing me, that I had been for some years in the Southern States. Ten years and three months have I labored in the sunny south, and that too with a great deal of satisfaction. My father was a southerner , he was born in the State of Kentucky, and while my mother was born in Illinois, yet her people were southerners, and were from the state of South Carolina, so that I have southern blood in my veins and Irish also. (I am proud of that little drop of Irish blood. I suppose it is Irish; my father's mother's name was O'Neill — I don't think she came from Germany.) I have been most happy in bearing my testimony to the principles of the Gospel throughout the south land, and many times I have publicly expressed my appreciation of the kindness bestowed upon me by the people of that land. I have stated many times that I believed they were the most religious people in the United States, the kindest hearted, the most generous and hospitable, and I repeat it. My heart will never be weaned away from the good people of the south. ¶

Inasmuch as one mission president has given a synopsis of the work done in his field, I think perhaps it would not be out of place for me to do likewise. ¶

During the time I have labored in the south, I think there has been 25,000 Books of Mormon distributed among the people, 160,000 Voice of Warning, 150,000 copies of "Mr. Durant," a work upon the principles of the Gospel, some 25,000 hymn books, 40,000 other miscellaneous works, 3,500,000 religious tracts; and there has been a little over 6,800 people baptized into the Church. That bears me out, I think, in saying they are the most religious people that we are finding in any portion of the United States. Their love is strong, and their prejudice is strong. They are not hypocritical. If they are your friends you will find it out very quick, and if otherwise they don't hesitate in letting you know it. God bless the people of the south. I thought I would like to say just these few words concerning them, now that I am to take my departure to another field of labor. I am glad I am going to another field; that is my business. I am a Seventy in the Church, and my place is out on the firing lines. That is where my priesthood calls me, and I trust that while I live and bear this priesthood I will be willing to remain out in the world, so long as the authorities of the Church may see fit to keep me there. ¶

There are many reasons why I rejoice in the knowledge that I am going to labor in the Eastern States. I look upon that as a sacred ground. It was there that the boy prophet, as mentioned by President Bennion, went into the woods, and kneeling down in solitude, asked God for wisdom. It was in that field where the heavens were opened, after centuries of darkness, and where God the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ condescended to speak once more to their children upon the earth. It was there, in answer to prayer, where God sent the angel Moroni to visit the Prophet and reveal to him concerning the plates that had been hid for centuries, and which gave to the world a knowledge, then unknown, concerning the dealings of the Almighty with one half of this world of ours. It was there that this sacred record was translated by the gift and power of God. It was there that the Almighty sent John the Baptist with the Aaronic priesthood, when he came to Joseph and Oliver, in Pennsylvania, and laying his hands upon their heads, bestowed upon them, in the name of Messiah, the Aaronic Priesthood, with a promise that it never more would be taken from the earth until the sons of Levi did offer an offering unto God in righteousness. It was there that the Father sent Peter, James and John, who came upon their mission to bestow the holy Melchisedek Priesthood and ordain those servants Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was there that the first people in this dispensation were led down into the waters of baptism, where they were confirmed members of the Church, where the Church was organized, and where God did many wonderful things in setting up His Church and Kingdom upon the earth. Not only that, but it was in that territory that God did something else before this, the setting up of the government of the United States, a part of the work of God that was a forerunner of the coming of His Holy Son upon the earth. In this sacred book too, the Book of Mormon, we read that the Almighty took the prophet Nephi upon a high mountain and gave to him a vision of the future, showing him a time when His Spirit would move upon an individual, causing him to cross the mighty waters, coming to a remnant of His people, and that the power of God would be upon those who gathered to this land. The Lord showed Nephi how His Spirit moved upon them in breaking loose from their mother country, and afterwards contending for their liberty, and organizing the government of independence upon this land. ¶

Talk about loyalty to the government of the United States, there is no church upon the earth the members of which believe as fully as we believe, that the organization of this government was a part of the work of Almighty God. There is no people upon the earth who believe as strongly as we believe, that what God has set up no man should tear down. Therefore that sacred book, which is a part of our religion, gives the lie to any man or any set of men, any political party, who say the Latter-day Saints are not the most loyal Americans living upon the face of the earth. We keep an army of over 2,000 men out in all parts of the civilized earth, teaching, what? That God made the government of the United States ! That is a part of their missionary work, distributing the proof, given to us by revelation from on high, of the fact that this government is a part of the work of God, the only government upon the face of the earth that He has set up, and demonstrated by revelation, by vision, that it is His work. Yet we find some people who say that we are antagonistic to the government. I almost feel like quoting the words of President Angus M. Cannon, who said once, "the sooner some people went to hell the quicker they . would get out," and I don't know but that is about true. ¶

It is our business to go into all nations of the earth and tell mankind what God has wrought, what He has set His hand to do in the dispensation of the fullness of times that the Priesthood has been restored, that the last dispensation has been ushered in, that the Church has been organized. The words of the angel to the boy, the farmer's lad, have come true, notwithstanding he was told that he would never be known outside of the county where he lived, yet today there is not a civilized nation upon the face of the earth where the name of Joseph Smith is not had for good and for evil. There is no other thing, no other work, that has been a fulfiller of so many predictions of the Almighty as this work. -In our day, in every nation upon the earth, there are people saying, "Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, where we can learn of His ways and walk in His paths;" and this has been brought to pass by the restoration of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth in this dispensation. It is true that the enemy said to our fathers and our mothers, "Get ye up into the mountains," and they got; and they are fulfilling one of the mightiest revelations of God, by being driven here. Every time, as Brigham Young said, they kicked Mormonism, they kicked it uphill, never down hill. ¶

We acknowledge the hand of the Lord even in our persecution, but that does not justify the persecutors. It needs be that offenses come, but woe be unto them by whom they came. God did not compel them to do it; they have got to pay the penalty. It was probably ordained in some way that there should be a traitor in the days of the Messiah, but that does not take away from Judas the responsibility, as an individual, or his punishment for betraying the Son of God. He has got to suffer the pangs of the condemned; and so will all persecutors suffer the pangs of the condemned, until the justice of Almighty God shall be satisfied. It will not be a lake of fire, either; it will not be to be toasted upon coals of fire; it will not be having a horned devil there with a pitchfork turning them over as he roasts them upon coals of fire. Here we are mortal, with mortal faculties. We commit sin, and we suffer the pangs of the remorse of conscience, but after a while it passes away, and we forget it, because we are mortal, and then we go on sinning more and more, and we continue to forget it. But I want to say to you that when we are resurrected from the dead we will not come up mortal. Every faculty of our being will be immortal, and we will bring forth with us a remembrance of everything that we have not atoned for, and we cannot forget it. We will there suffer remorse of conscience until we have paid the uttermost farthing; and I don't know but that will be worse than coals of fire. ¶

I bear testimony that Joseph F. Smith is a prophet of God. I want to bear testimony that no man can be untrue to that man and still receive blessings from God the Eternal Father. I say it is your duty to be loyal and true. His friends are your friends, his enemies are your enemies. You should teach it to your children and your children's children, from generation to generation, that the man who may be at the head of this Church, no matter what his name is, no matter who he may be, his friends are your friends, his enemies are your enemies, and what mankind would like to do to him they have it in their hearts to do to you. ¶

I remember in the missionary field that I had a portrait of an individual who was not a religious man, not by any means. Probably he did not do at all times what he ought to have done, but I have written beneath his picture the words, "Porter Rockwell, the Prophet's Friend." He was indeed the friend of the Prophet; a devoted protector of the head of the Church. He would have laid down his life in defense of the man who stood at the head of the Church, and he is remembered today for his loyalty, and his love for those whom God had placed at the head and his devotion will be remembered in his favor on the books above. While he may have to pay the uttermost farthing for sins he committed, I want to tell you on the other page of that book he has received a credit for loyalty that will stand in his favor throughout the countless ages of eternity. I think we should let the world know that, to a man we are willing to surround our president and protect him. That we look upon his enemies as our enemies, and that we will defend him with our lives if necessary. ¶

I rejoice in the testimony that God has given me concerning this work, and feel for myself, and know, it is true, and I want to remain true to it. I bear my testimony to you that the men at the head of this Church are prophets of God and I want my testimony recorded for or against me, because I give it as knowledge, and I bear it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶