Missionary Conduct and the Testimony of a Noted Infidel

In standing up in the presence of this great congregation this afternoon, my brethren and sisters, I certainly feel, as others of the brethren have expressed themselves, a great need for the help of the Lord, and for the inspiration of His Holy Spirit. It is not my intention to occupy much of the time, as it is very valuable, and there are others of the brethren to address the people who are assembled together in this sacred building. I feel, however, that I desire to say a few words regarding the many misrepresentations that are made relative to the doings of the representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reference has been made, in our meeting this afternoon, to the stories that are in circulation against the people of the Latter-day Saints, and in relation to the motives of the missionaries who are sent into the world to preach the gospel. It has fallen to my lot, my brethren and sisters, upon various occasions, to go abroad as a missionary. I recollect very distinctly, at the present moment, when I was called upon my first mission, about thirty years ago. In a meeting with other elders, who had received a similar call, instructions were given by the presiding authorities of the Church, as is the custom prior to missionaries going out to various fields of labor. I do not think I can forget the stress that was laid upon one feature of the work, by those brethren, in giving the instructions to the missionaries who were at that time going abroad in the world, and that was in relation to their deportment with the opposite sex, and also in relation to respect for authority in the home, more especially for the authority of the head of the home. We were instructed that we were not, under any circumstances, to baptize any woman, who was a married woman, without having obtained the consent of her husband ; and we were also instructed that we were not to baptize children who were under age, unless we had obtained the consent of their parents or guardians. It was the instruction that we should teach women to hold sacred the obligations that they had taken upon themselves at the altar of marriage, that they were to have respect to the feelings and wishes of their husbands, and that we were not to be instrumental, in any way whatever, in breaking up homes. I have been abroad in the missionary field, since that period and have had the privilege of laboring as one of the presidency of one of the great missions of the Church ; and in that position have received many elders who arrived in the country where I was laboring. As one of the presidency I joined with my associates in giving the elders instructions along the lines I have named ; and I wish to bear witness that just such instructions have been imparted to the missionaries, according to my own knowledge, during the past thirty years at least. The instructions that I have received myself, and the instructions that I have imparted to other missionaries who have been going abroad or, who have been appointed to labor under my direction have always been in conformity with the words that I have spoken. Missionaries have always been careful, in the world, not to induce either men or women to forsake their homes, but more especially have they been particularly careful not to interfere with the gentler sex. No men in all the world are as free from improper conduct with women. I thought that I would like to bear this record and this testimony in the midst of this great congregation of people. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I do not know whether we appreciate the blessings that have come to us as members of the Church of Christ, whether we have been able to recognize the wonderful power that is in this work. I once heard a very noted infidel bear a remarkable testimony in regard to the strength of "Mormonism," Mr. Charles H. Bradlaugh, the great English apostle of infidelity. On one occasion, while laboring in the British mission, I attended a lecture delivered by him. The subject was: "Is Christianity a persecuting religion?" He told a very startling and remarkable story in relation to the evil that had been wrought among men in the name of religion. A young man who attended the lecture asked some questions of that noted infidel ; he wanted to know how it was that the early Christians had survived the persecutions of the mighty empire of Rome? and why it was that their determination to destroy the Christians and break them up had failed? — if that failure was not an evidence of the superior power of God, and that ¶

there was some supernatural influence over those early Christians? otherwise, they would have been destroyed, as the weak power usually succumbs to the greater or stronger power. In answer to the questions that were propounded on that occasion, which I do not give in detail, the noted infidel said : "Young man, away off in the western part of America, there is a people who have had a like experience, who have been opposed by a mighty nation, and who have come in conflict with the religious prejudices of all the peoples of the earth, and in spite of that opposition, and that religious prejudice, and the bitter persecutions that have followed them they still survive ; and their survival, and the success to which they have attained is more remarkable than the history of the early Christian church. Are you prepared to say that because of their remarkable story they have had the special favor of God resting upon them ?" My brethren and sisters, I felt to thank God for that testimony. When one of the great intellectual men of the age sought for a parallel for the community that was established by the Lord Jesus Christ in the meridian of time, afar off in this western land, in these mountains that we inhabit, he found that people. I could not help but feel that like causes produce like effects ; and because of the call of God and the authority that has been bestowed upon men in this dispensation, like unto the former dispensation, we have met with this opposition. ¶

Thank God for the truth, and power, and strength of "Mormonism." I bear my testimony that it is the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, that it is the power of God unto salvation, and that it will remain and accomplish that which has been spoken concerning it by the mouths of inspired men. God help us to remain with it, and be true to it forever, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶